The Melbourne Storm have received no favours from the NRL with the announcement of today's draw

SINGLE Friday night home game in the opening 20 rounds, a season launch on a Sunday afternoon, five five-day breaks all including travel and four straight away games in four different cities.

Does that sound like the sort of draw the should be allocated to the reigning premier, and a team which boasts three of the best five players in the game?

Melbourne Storm is used to a 26-round grind, with its home base in the NRL's southern outpost meaning travel every other week, and in most seasons past they have overcome it.

But surely their success earns them some sort of respite.

It would if the broadcasters, and that means Channel Nine who have their Sydney and Brisbane blinkers on didn't still have an inordinate amount of say in who plays where and when, and the NRL administration didn't break its back bending over to accommodate them.

It's staggering to think that the best team in rugby league will feature in the prime TV slot just twice in the opening 20 rounds.

Storm has found itself in the new Thursday night timeslot twice, but one of those is the Grand Final replay against the Bulldogs just five days after Melbourne travels to Townsville to play the Cowboys.

And that's the club's major concern, player welfare.

Storm has more five day breaks than any other team in the NRL. It's tantamount to disrespect.

That includes the mind-boggling decision to schedule two interstate games within a week for Storm, one on the Gold Coast on a Monday night then a Saturday in Sydney in Rounds 15 and 16, during State of Origin.

But slighting the premiers is nothing new. Manly, the 2011 champs were sent to Auckland to start their 2012 season, racking up more air miles than Phileas Fogg.

The NRL already places undue strain on its best players by having representative football before, during and then after the regular season.

To then impose such stifling in-season schedules while at the same time rebuking claims from the Players Association for salary cap increases aligned to the $1 billion TV rights deal, is galling.

Overcoming challenges is what Storm has done well for so many years.

Next season's draw presents another significant one, and one which will require some stout hearts and pinpoint planning to achieve back-to-back premierships.